1:1 Literacy Groups

Here is a lonnnng overdue post! Life has been so busy. Who knew home ownership entailed raking leaves, shoveling snow, and cleaning more than 1 room and bathroom? I don't miss apartment life, but I took a few things for granted! 

Things are starting to pick up at The Sara Marie School with our first gala and open house coming up. Enrollment has been increasing which is great news :)

Oh, and the Mr. adopted a kitten for Christmas. Her name is Ivy. Precious, yes?

This post is going to focus on literacy in kindergarten. I do use Daily 5 (see my previous posts explaining that in detail) but this year I'm not using CAFE with it. Because I work at a private school we have small class sizes. Instead of working with traditional reading groups, I meet with each student 1:1 3 times a week using Jan Richardson's Guided Reading format. My kiddos are making great progress using Richardson's approach. 

This is my handy-dandy teacher bag that stays with me throughout reading. It has everything I need from my data binder to magnetic letters. 

Here is where I keep all of my leveled readers. I have a bin for each level. It keeps me organized :) I bought most of them through Scholastic and on eBay.

This is what the lesson plan format looks like for emergent readers from Richardson's book. It follows a 3 day format. I love that each day begins with a sight word review. I've noticed tremendous growth. I had students begin the year with no sight word knowledge (or alphabet!) and now know almost all the pre-primer and primer words. I do NOT use the "drill and kill" method for teaching them. We go over the word wall once a day as a class and then we spend 1 minute reviewing them/learning new ones when they meet with me 1:1 during reading. 

On day 2, after we have practiced sight words and reread our story, we work on phonics or whatever it is I think they need practice with. Richardson gives a lot of ideas for this part but I also have a huge binder that I put together in college for no reason other than to use up my print quota before I graduated, but boy have I put it to use. Most of the collection is from PALS.  I have a section for beginning sounds, blending, rhymes, sound-to-letter segmentation, alphabet recognition, comprehension, concept of word, letter sounds, print knowledge, vocabulary, word recognition, writing, spelling, and fluency. This truly is an AMAZING resource AND it's free (with the exception of all the printing you will do!). 

On the third day we do a sight word review then I give them a sentence that includes many words they should know and one or two that they haven't necessarily learned but I want to see what they do with it. I do NOT do a traditional spelling test. I underline the words that they should know and those are the words I count in their score. Some students  only need to know 3, some 5, some 7. It just depends on the child. The sentence in the picture is "My mom said I was the best at some crafts." This student should have known "my, said, I, was, the, at, some" and he did so he got a 6/6. I also gained some insight on how he spelled "best" and "crafts" which were not right, but he did not need to get those correct for full credit. 

Also, I'm looking into a new math program for next year. Can you either tell me here what you use or comment below. Thank you :)

Book Recommendation Bookmark Freebie

Well I was hoping I wouldn't have to reinvent the wheel, but I did some Googling and just couldn't find what I was looking for! I got one of those nifty book turning gadgets (don't know what to call it!) from a Borders closeout sale (best 20.00 ever spent!). Anyways, each Friday we do book recommendations which both encourages oral presentation and book discussion. We're now midyear and I wanted to add a written piece to this so I made book recommendation bookmarks. So now the students must fill out a bookmark prior to Friday. I require at least one share a month and I keep track via a checklist. Hope this is helpful to someone! 

P.S. Don't forget I'm announcing my "What's the Matter?" giveaway tomorrow morning after spin class ;) Check out my previous post to get the details. 

Let's Play Catch Up!

Hello blog world!

First quarter report cards... CHECK :) Mental breakdown... CHECK... 3 day weekend... ALMOST THERE.

Here is a little peek at what we've been doing in second grade.

In reading we have been working on literary elements and sequencing.

We did a mini unit on the 3 little pigs and different versions of the story to learn about literary elements and compare and contrast. The kids LOVED the different versions. An extension could be to have them write their own version, but in November I'm pressed for time and they are already working on a pretty darn cool writing assignment (look forward to a future post about it!)

Today we did a sequence wheel using Fancy Nancy's Late, Late Night. The kiddos adore Fancy Nancy (which is a fancy word for LOVE). I'm going to have them make their own tomorrow using a brad so the wheel moves. Here are directions for making a story wheel.

Next up.... Social Studies!

We have been learning about Election Day. To understand things a little further the kids worked on a Candy Campaign. I randomly paired the students and they drew a type of candy out of a hat. Their assignment was to convince the school to vote for their candy by creating a campaign ad. Oh My Sugar they were adorable. I received so many compliments from other teachers and parents because they REALLY got a lot out of this project.

In case you can't read the ad..."We love skittles because there a bargan at Price Chopper. We love Skittles because there chewy and they make your stumick rumble for more. The s on it means really sweet and super. Never eat any other candy then Skittles. Trust us there the best. You people better not eat any other candy then Skittles."

Is that not hysterically awesome?? I don't know about you, but I'm convinced that I want some Skittles right now!

Grah, and I forgot to take a picture of our Veterans Day poster. We made a big poster to thank the Veterans since my school is hosting a breakfast tomorrow. Basically it is the hand print turkey seen below but huge with lots of hands and their red, white, and blue and the center says "Mrs. Leander's class is thankful for Veterans." I'll try to remember to take a picture. It came out great!

I struggle with the second grade science curriculum because it's not very hands-on, so I am constantly trying to find ways to make it interesting. Anyways, we are studying habitats so we started the unit off with the Woodland Forest. We learned the different parts to the forest and where certain animals can be found. The art work is all me, not my husband! I've become very independent this year.

And lastly, I got these from Oriental Trading. They make the room POP!

Have a great week and don't forget you can find Second Grade is Splendid on Facebook.

Subject and Predicate Printable

My second grade kiddos have been working on subject and predicate which can be pretttty tricky! To make it a little more understandable, my students made subject/predicate puzzles. Then they took their subjects and walked around to each desk and made silly sentences with the other students' predicates. The kids LOVED it. You can download the freebie here. 

Literature Circles

I decided that I wanted to try literature circles with my 2 high reading groups. It will be pretty basic because I think traditional literature circles are a little too advanced for even the brightest second graders. I put together 4 different role sheets that I think my friends can handle. It's copier friendly... no over-the-top clip art and fancy fonts! 

Does anyone else do literature circles? What are your thoughts? 

Have a great week :)

Columbus Day Mini Unit

I am taking the Friday before Columbus Day off because my husband is coming home from DC that weekend :D Anyways, it's always difficult having a sub because I feel like I just throw busy work together. So I decided to make a few Columbus Day activities which then turned into a mini unit. It includes math, science, social studies, and ELA activities. I figure I will use these throughout the next couple of weeks in math centers and for homework then have the sub finish the unit up on Friday. You can download this unit here. It includes:

Sailboat tangram template

Tangram template

Tangram answer key

Bump- 2 dice edition

Bump- 3 dice edition

Capture Ye Gold math game

Need VS Want work mat

Need VS Want picture cards

Need VS Want magazine collage

Fill in the blank difficult version

Fill in the blank average version

Fill in the blank easier version

Fill in the blank answer key

Christopher Columbus word find

Sink or float experiment

Sink or float experiment blank

3 writing prompts

I hope this makes teaching about Columbus Day easier for you :)

Talk to you all soon! I have the most amazing class this year (brag moment)!!

**Homework** and a 4th of July freebie ;)

I've been asked several times how I do homework in second grade. For starters my school requires homework to be sent home each night (except Friday) in math and ELA. Math is easy because we use Saxon so the homework is already done. If I want to extend math I have many great resources by Scholastic and Mailbox that I can photocopy. I try to stick to a schedule because it's easy on me, the students, and parents. It looks like this: 

Monday- comprehension. I make quarterly packets which include both fiction and non-fiction passages. I do differentiate. Most of my resources came from Scholastic's e-book dollar days. 

Tuesday- writing. Here is a freebie. My students have a BEE binder which goes to and from school.Inside the BEE binder are plastic sleeves. One of the sleeves contains the monthly journal prompts. On Tuesdays my students take home their journal notebook and complete a prompt for homework. I leave the number of sentences blank on the document so I can write in individual goals for each student. Easy way to differentiate! LOVE how easy this is to manage too. 

Wednesday- I'm still debating on Wednesday. Last year I did grammar on Wednesday. I probably still will.. Unless I come up with something easier to manage, right now I just make photocopies from a Scholastic grammar workbook that I have. Any thoughts? 

Thursday- On Thursday the students practice their spelling words by using their speller's choice activities for the month. Again, easiest thing ever to manage. I just change out the activities each month in their BEE binder and they take home their spelling notebook to complete the assignment. 

Friday- The students don't have homework on Friday, however, each Monday they have to turn in their reading journal. I require that they write 2 entries a week.. don't care which days. This is another easy way to differentiate. Most of my students have to write at least a 5 sentence summary on 20 minutes worth of reading. My advanced readers have to make connections. This journal stays in their BEE binders at all times because when they choose to work in their journal is up to the student. 

Hope this helped!! Happy 4th of July :) Feel free to share how you do homework. I love seeing how things are done in other classrooms!! 

Daily 5-- Part 8- Listening

Okay, well this is it... The last installment of my Daily 5 guide. For listening to reading I only use the computer. I don't purchase books with CD's because there are so many free resources on the Internet. Currently I only have one computer so that means one student per round can do listening. 

I use Tumblebooks and only Tumblebooks because there are so many books. It is a subscription site though. What I do is I pick out 2 books for the week (usually a 10 minute and 4 minute) and put them in my Tumblebook favorites and the kids are able to just open and click. It's super simple and only takes about 1 minute of prep time to change out the books each Monday. There are many free sites listed here I just wouldn't be able to tell you how they work since I've never used them!  

After my students listen to reading they are then required to complete a listening reflection. My students just write in their Daily 5 notebooks. I model this in the beginning of the year. They may write about their favorite part, a connection they made, etc. When I taught kindergarten last year I used these two files. I have two different versions to differentiate. One with lines and one without. 

Well, I hope my Daily 5 blabbing helped some of you out. I am super passionate about literacy and the Daily 5. You are always welcome to email me and ask questions. 

Great.... now what am I going to blog about?? ;)

Daily 5-- Part 7- Writing

I want to start by saying I have a separate writer's workshop block, so my students can do anything writing related during Daily 5. If they're writing, I'm happy. The most popular activity is writing letters to each other. I have lots of fancy paper from the dollar store and envelopes. The rule is only 1 piece of fancy paper and envelope per day though. My students are also not allowed to give their letters to their friends during Daily 5. They put it in their mailboxes to avoid distraction. I store all my paper in this mailbox to keep it organized and easily accessible. 

My students also have writing journals that they keep in their book bin if they just want to free write. I also offer many different prompts to assist them. I keep a ring of laminated picture prompts. The kids can just grab the ring and choose a picture to write about. I love reading stories that go along with the pictures. They can get so creative. 

Each month I offer different writing task cards. The majority of mine came from Ms Winston's website. I print, laminate, and put them on a binder ring. 

I post monthly journal prompts in clear sleeves from the Busy Teacher Cafe. 

I own a long arm stapler so another popular choice is making books. My students will grab a piece of construction paper and a few sheets of white paper and I staple it into a book. My students know when it's appropriate to ask me to staple their book and when it's not (ex: when I'm working with a group or conferencing) 

Lately my kids have been making joke books. They're so silly!

There are SO many different writing options in my classroom that there is something for everyone. Writing is actually a popular choice. 

Around the holidays I make donated stationery available (Valentine cards, Christmas cards, etc.) This is a big hit too and the same rules apply; only 1 per day. 

It's very easy to switch out my writing options each month. Last summer I printed, laminated, and prepared the options for each month. Now all I do is swap it out :)

Any questions? 

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Daily 5--Part 6- Word Work

On Mondays I teach 3 word study groups. I use Bear's Words Their Way and each group has a different spelling list based on what Words Their Way Pattern they fall into. I introduce the spelling words for the week then they do a pattern sort. Throughout the week they can choose word work to practice their spelling words; they must do it at least once a week prior to the spelling test. On Fridays I require all my students to do Read to Self in the first round and I pull each group back to take their spelling test. This only takes about 20 minutes total. This is such an easy way to differentiate. It really is! My organization is simple too. I just keep 3 different folders which contain spelling lists and the current week's sort. 


I have my kids do spelling homework every Thursday and they choose an activity from the Speller's choice of the month. I also put a copy in each Word Work bin to offer options. 

I keep my sorts in envelopes (each sort is paper clipped with the sort number on the front). WW stands for within word. 

I have 3 Word Work bins that have the exact same contents. This way there is no arguing and 3 students can choose Word Work in the same round (I would suggest more bins for a larger class). The kids just grab a bin and go to work :) As I previously mentioned, my students keep a folder in their book bins. The left side is for writing and the right side is word work. I have them turn in their folders and journals biweekly. 

Here are the contents of the bins: 

- dry erase crayons (eh, wouldn't recommend them)

- dry erase markers

- markers

- colored pencils

- magnetic letters (homemade: print, laminate, stick magnets on the back)*

- stamps (Target dollar spot)

- clothespin letters (the stick is a paint stirrer)* 

- chalk (my clear library book bins came with dark blue lids so I use them as chalk boards)

*- Each bin contains different colored letters so that I know which bag they belong to if I find letters on the floor. 

My students grab a cookie sheet if they are doing magnetic letters and a white board if they are using dry erase markers or crayons since they obviously can't fit in the bin.

close up of how the clothespins are used.

I tell my students that I want them to at least practice their words for 10 minutes and then if they want to place a Word Work game they can (they're really good about this). I have many different games and activities. Many of them are homemade and are in my TpT store as single purchases or within a unit. I store them in a bin under my easel. We do a lot of modeling in the beginning of the year and I haven't had a single issue regarding clean up or misusing my materials. 

Let me know if you have any questions and I will be glad to answer them :) I'm proud of my Word Work system. It's so perfectly organized and I haven't had a single issue all year. Modest aren't I? ;)

Stay tuned... I have 2 more blog entries about Daily 5 to go! 

Daily 5--Part 5- Read to Someone

I found that read to someone is the choice that my students need the most modeling for. We practice, practice, practice sitting EEKK (elbow to elbow, knee to knee) and practice our whisper voices. My students are really good about the noise level. I'm finding that my students get so into what they are reading that when it's their partner's turn they keep trying to read their book. I've tried to eliminate this problem by making my students put a bookmark in their book and sit on it. 

In the beginning of the year I demonstrated the two different ways to read with someone. The first way is reading the same book together but it has to be a "just right" book for both students. This way is seldom used in my classroom. Most of my students each read their own book and take turns.

I also have a small class so it drives me nuts because the same kids read together all the time, but there really isn't anything I can do about that this year. 

One thing I want to work on next year is modeling more "do you need coaching or time?" strategies. They were really good about it when I first taught it. I think next year I will make a bookmark that has strategies written on it so that when their buddy does need coaching they can give them a strategy to use. 

I must say.. even though read to someone drives me crazy sometimes, I hear so much great discussion!! 

Are there any questions about read to someone? I feel like there wasn't much to say about this choice. 

Daily 5- Part 4- Read to Self

I forgot to mention modeling in part 3. The first month is almost all modeling and anchor charts. The original anchor charts are on large chart paper, but I only keep them up for about a week. I type what is written and we turn it into a contract. I store them in a folder with prongs and they all have to sign the front. The sticker on the front is from the Daily 5 book and says: 

1. Get started right away

2. Stay in one place

3. Work quietly

4. Read the whole time

5. Increase stamina

6. Select and read good fit books

When students have trouble during the year I have them review our anchor charts during read to self to remind themselves of the contract they signed. 

As I stated in Part 1.. my students must choose read to self every day. It's 20 minutes of uninterrupted reading time! 

The first couple of weeks of school I put good fit books into my students' book bins until they are able to appropriately choose their own. My book bins were 2.50 at Target and I have them decorate an index card on the first day and I velcro it on to reuse for next year. None broke this year and they were pretty rough with them! Inside their book bins they are allowed 6 books (no more than 2 chapter books), a writing journal, a folder for word work and writing pieces (left side is labeled word work, right side is labeled writing) an IPICK book mark, and a check for understanding. 

Anyways, the most crucial part of read to self is the students being able to choose their own books. I spend about a week modeling and working with students one on one to choose good fit books. To practice we sing the IPICK song and they receive IPICK bookmarks. I can't share them because of copyright issues, but basically I just created it in Word with the IPICK acronym 

I choose my books

Purpose

Interest 

Comprehend

Know most of the words 

We also go over the "5 finger rule." If a student chooses a chapter book they must be able to randomly open the book and read a page without struggling with more than 5 words. I tell them if it's a picture book it's a "3 finger rule" since most of them have a lot less words than a page in a chapter book. 

I don't know what else to say about read to self. It's wonderful and my students LOVE reading. My favorite part is seeing them smile or laugh as they read. There is nothing more rewarding than watching your students enjoy learning. If you think of any questions, feel free to ask them in a comment or email. Enjoy the rest of your weekend! 

Countdown: 24 more days of school!

Don't forget you can follow me on Facebook and now you can even receive email notifications (on the right hand side) when I update my blog. Thanks Ladybug for yet another thing I didn't know! 

Daily 5-- Part 3 Accountability

So I'm not going to lie... accountability is tough for me. I'm all into it at the beginning of the year but by November I'm tired of recording information. I know my kids inside and out. BUT next year I'm going to have 18 students so I know I'm going to need to get better with recording data.

Here is my lovely reading bag. I got it for $5 last summer at Michaels!! (40% off coupon). This is where I keep my pensieve, guided reading books, white board, sentence strips, etc.

Here is my pensieve from Zazzle. 

Inside I keep my weekly lesson overview. This is where I fill in my mini lessons for the week, the guided reading groups I'm working with, and when I'm meeting with individual students. My example is very bare, but I'm making an effort to be more detailed next year. 

Then after my weekly overview I have a tab for guided reading groups where I keep my small group lesson plans. This is pretty straight forwards.. I write down the book title, my plans for the week, who is in the group, and what I observe. 

Next in my pensieve are tabs for each student. Inside the tab I keep track of our one on one conferences using this form. I write down the book they're reading, check what strategy they're working on, record my observations, then record what I would like them to work on. 

And this is my Daily 5 assessment that I fill out each quarter and include with report cards. 

Hopefully this post was helpful. I'm not going to lie... I went through about 4 different conference templates this year until I created the one that worked best and was easiest to use.. now all I need to do is use it ;)